Bring it on -A naruto fanfic-
by Applebearhugs
Summary: Otani Namina had been told many things when she was younger. She was told that she would be strong, a force to be reckoned with. That she would be feared and admired by her friends and enemies. She was told she would rise through the clan ranks and become the Namina clan leader. She would become the greatest leader they have ever seen...more inside!
1. Rest of the summary

Otani Namina had been told many things when she was younger. She was told that she would be strong, a force to be rekoned with. That she would be feared and admired by her friends and enemies.

She was told she would rise through the clan ranks and become the Namina clan leader. She would become the greatest leader they have ever seen. They told her that she would come to do great things and her name would spread like a forest fire.

Every person living some where in the four corners of the Earth would come to know her name. That is what she had been preparing for ever since she could walk. But she hadn't been prepared for what the Sandaime threw at her.

She hadn't been prepared to be an assistant teacher to a team of genin fresh out of the academy. She hadn't been prepared for Team 7.


	2. He didn't!

~Third Person POV~

"Otani!" The Third Hokage called over to the young girl sitting in the corner of his office. Otani was fourteen years old, rookie of the year for her class and the protégée of her clan. She was pretty for her age; her eyes were a light golden honey brown, she had smooth, pale skin. Her hair was an unusual sight, not many people had a natural two toned hair color.

Her hair was short and choppy, one side was black and the other was white. The white had covered the majority of her head and was longer and thicker than the darker side of her head. Strange, but it looked good on her.

In the middle of her forehead was a black almond-shaped mark, a signature symbol of the women from the Namina clan. Otani reluctantly looked up from her book and quirked an eye brow, "Something you need?" she asked before peering back down at the text in the book in her hands.

_'Just like her mother'_, The Hokage thought tenderly, _' Imani always has her nose in a book too. She's gets so absorbed into the fantasy world of the written text. Sometimes, she even forgets to go to sleep at night because she's so enthralled in the story._

_Thankfully, Otani hadn't picked up that trait from her mother. I don't think this village needs another sleep deprived Namina situation, the hospital hardly had room for the people who pissed Imani off. I don't even want to think about what Otani can do.'_

A shiver shook through The Hokage's body at the thought, he dreaded the day Otani lost any sleep at night. He pushed away the dreadful thoughts to discuss what he had originally wanted Otani to do for him.

"I need you to do me a favor and run this down to the academy. It's the approved list of genin teams for the year, give it to Iruka." he instructed sliding a manila envelope over to the edge of his desk closest to her.

"I thought you approved the genin teams yesterday?" she questioned, mentally book marking her page and placed it in her coat pocket.

She walked over to the desk and picked up the manila envelope, casting a curious glance to the elder man in front of her,"Yes, I did. But I have had a change of heart with the decisions made for the teams and I switched them up a bit.

Right now the kids are out at lunch, which is about an hour, so you have time to get there at your convenience but don't be too late. Iruka announces the teams right after the kids return to the academy and I want him reading the right list, not the wrong one." he insisted a pointed look.

She raised her hands in surrender, "Alright, alright, calm down. I'm going right now." she relented and walked out of his office, beginning her journey to the academy she had graduated from two years ago.

The Third Hokage waited until he knew she was out of ear shot and released a relieved sigh. He had hoped her curious nature wouldn't have peaked when she grabbed the envelope, she would not be happy with the results.

Otani had graduated from the academy two years ago, when she was twelve, and when this years genin were ten. Since then, she had been promoted to Jounin along with her two other team mates - that had surprisingly ended up being her cousins. Aguri and Renji.

After being promoted, Aguri and Renji were sent away on a three-year mission in the Land of Snow and would be returning some time next year. Otani had originally been apart of this mission as well but with some "Negotiating" with Imani, Otani had stayed behind.

After their departure, Otani's activity in the shinobi world had slowed down drastically. She didn't really do missions outside of the country anymore. She remained inside the Fire Country borders and would often do sweeps with the ANBU to keep rogue shinobi and bandits out.

Though, it was not necessarily needed. Bandits and rogue shinobi had done well to stay clear of the Fire country lately. They feared running into the young Namina woman, so they took their activities else where.

A good thing for many of the people who lived in or near the village. Her name was being thrown around, it was a looming threat. She was like the infamous thunderstorms the Fire Country received. They would lay dormant for a while, building up until something broke the seal and the rain would come pouring down on its unfortunate victims.

The moment the Leaf village was threatened, was the moment where Otani's fury would come raining down on those who broke the seal.

With the changes The Hokage had made to the list of genin, he was hoping her relative inactivity would change. However, he knew things would certainly be difficult with one of the teams. Team 7. Naruto Uzamaki, Sakura Haruno, Sasuke Uchiha, and Kakashi Hatake as their instructor.

Putting together a hyperactive kid, a fan girl, a revenge craved kid and a lazy instructor was quite the team wouldn't you agree? He knew a majority wouldn't. It was a bad idea from the start but Hiruzen had faith in this team and he had faith in Otani as well.

Otani had been added to this team to act as a second sensei, seeing as Kakashi would undoubtedly be late for the majority of the time - which in turn, cuts down on their training time together.

So, he would have Otani teach the trio what they needed to know to survive in the shinobi world and more. Then, when ever Kakashi would show up, he would then pass along his knowledge on top of hers.

It didn't sound that bad to him, but then again he was nothing like Otani - meaning they did not see eye to eye on certain things. He had a feeling that this would be one of them, maybe he should get ANBU and some Namina members up here before she returns?

Yeah, that sounded like a good plan. The Third Hokage snapped his fingers and not a moment later Izumo and Kotetsu both appeared in a puff of smoke, "You called Hokage-sama?" they chorused once the smoke was cleared.

"Yes, I need one of you to go down to ANBU HQ and round up teams 1-4. Then, I need one of you to go down to the Namina compound and bring me 8 of their members, jounin rank and up preferably." Hiruzen requested as he lite his pipe.

The two friends exchanged a look before turning to their leader, "Uhh, sure no problem Hokage-sama but-" Kotetsu began, "If you don't mind us asking, why do you need so many people?" Izumo finished.

The Third Hokage chuckled, letting the smoke escape from his lips. "I may have just signed my own death wish. I put Otani on one of this years genin teams to act as a second sensei. Team 7's second sensei." he informed. The two chunin gaped at the Sandaime," Y-you did what?! Otani is going to kill you when she finds out!" Kotetsu cried.

A smile graced his lips as he raised an eye brow and removed his pipe from his lips, "All the more reason to get going now isn't it? I want them here before the hour is up, that's when Iruka reads off the new teams and when Otani learns the truth." Hiruzen explained.

Kotetsu and Izumo turned to each other with wide eyes, "I'll get the ANBU you go get the Namina!" Izumo instructed. Kotetsu nodded,"Right." he agreed and in another puff of smoke the two chunin were gone.

The Hokage couldn't help but laugh at the two's dire attitude towards the situation, it was nice being Hokage. Well for the most part anyways, he had just hoped Kotetsu and Izumo would hurry with his requests.

"Alright, so in my hands is the list of the teams hand-picked by Lord Hokage himself. The first team will be-" Iruka began but was cut off by the sound of the door being opened.

"Wait! That's not the right list, The Hokage made some last-minute changes and asked me to deliver the new list." Otani called as she walked into the same room she had been in two years ago.

A murmur broke out among the students watching the older girl stroll through their class with a manilla envelope in one hand and a dango stick in the other.

"Woah, who is she?"

"I dunno, I've never seen her around before."

"Look at her forehead, isn't that a Namina mark?"

"I think it is! She is a Namina!"

"I don't care who she is, just as long as she stays away from my Sasuke-kun!"

"Yeah!"

"Otani?" Iruka asked with a curious smile, she had changed a lot since the last time he's seen her. Her hair used to be long and flowed down to her back, but it was now a lot shorter. She had been flat chested and didn't have that noticeable curves but now she had filled out well and could see her curves easily.

Otani smiled and nodded, "Mhm. Good to see you again Iruka-sensei." she said handing over the manila envelope, "I believe this is for you, and this is for me" she said taking the old list of teams out of his hands.

He looked surprised, "T-thank you Otani-chan." he stuttered opening the manila envelope and taking out the new list. "I would have gotten it here sooner but I got hungry and the guy at the Dango shop wouldn't stop flirting with me" she said with a small apologetic smile.

"It's fine, Otani. No harm done." Iruka smiled amused. "Would you like to stay for the readings? Maybe you'll get a sense of nostalgia while you're in here." he invited with a slight tease at the end.

Otani smirked and nodded, "I don't see why not, the Hokage never said that he needed me to do anything else - so sure." she backed up and took a seat on Iruka's desk behind him and returned to her dango stick.

"Excuse me Iruka-sensei before you begin, I'd like to ask her a question!" a girl called. Otani and Iruka both looked up and seen it was a girl sitting in one of the front rows of the class. She had pink hair, the signature forehead protector on top of her head - acting as a makeshift head band, green eyes and a red sleeveless dress on.

"Uh, sure? Go ahead Sakura." Iruka said throwing a curious look to Otani but she shrugged. She didn't know this girl or what she wanted. "So from what I heard your Otani Namina, right?" she guessed.

"That's right." Otani nodded a bit curious about where she was going with this. Sakura nodded in satisfactory and rattled off another sentence. " I realize that you must be confused about why I'm asking you for your name but you look really familiar to me, have we met before?" she asked.

Otani shook her head, she would remember meeting someone with strange colored hair like hers, " 'Fraid not darling, I would remember if we met before - your hair color is unique like mine. It'd be hard to forget a hair color like that." she pointed out with a smile.

Sakura blushed and grabbed a bit of her pink colored hair and looked at it, almost wishing Otani's words weren't true. "But you could have seen me on the wall of ' Number One Rookies of the Year' " Otani continued.

" I wasn't last years rookie, but the one before that. Last years' number one rookie was Neji Hyuga, look for the picture before his and you'll see me." she supplied and then paused as she broke off into thought, tapping the tip of the now empty Dango stick against her chin.

" Or you could recognize me from doing business with your clan head. I know I can recognize some of the future clan heads in here right now." she mentioned, referring to Hinata Hyuga, Ino Yamanaka, Shino Aburame, Shikamaru Nara and Chouji Akimichi.

Right on que, a familiar blonde shot up from her seat and waved her hand in the air happily, "Hey Otani!" she called loudly. Otani smiled and returned the wave, "Hello Ino." she greeted much more quietly than the blonde with a laugh.

An irritated sigh suddenly filled the room, "What a drag, she's literally right there in front of us. Did you really need to shout so loud?" Shikamaru complained dully from next to the blonde. Ino glared down at the Nara boy, "Yes it was necessary! Can't I be happy to see a friend again?!" she demanded, leaning over and placing her hands on her hips.

"That's all fine and dandy but you still don't need to shout." he ground out, returning his own lazy glare. "You gonna stop me if I don't?!" she yelled angrily. Shikamaru sighed in aggravation and ran a hand over his face, "No, it'd be too much of a drag. Not to mention it wouldn't even solve anything, you'd just go right back to your shouting." he grumbled.

"Your damn right I would!" she declared with a huff and straightened once more. Ino turned her attention back to where she last seen Otani but was shocked when she seen the spot she had occupied was gone. "Huh? Where did Otani go?" she asked cluelessly.

"She went over by Shino and Hinata." Chouji supplied munching on his chips. Ino and Shikamaru turned and seen Chouji had spoken the truth. Otani was stretched out on the desk of Shino, Hinata and some feral looking boy who had a white puppy in the hood of his coat.

She was smiling at the butterfly that occupied the tip of her finger, "Beautiful as always Shino." she breathed as she watched the small insect open and close it's dark and light blue wings slowly. Shino stared at the butterfly for a moment before turning to Otani, " He says thank you and returns the compliment" Shino translated monotonously.

Otani chuckled, "And quite the charmer too, isn't he?" she mused. She cast a glance to the shy heiress of the Hyuga clan sitting next to them - twiddling her fingers nervously, "How are you doing Hinata? I haven't seen you in a while." she asked as she watched the butterfly fly off her finger and out of the open window it had come in through.

"G-g-good O-o-Otani-chan, h-how a-about y-your s-self?" she stuttered with a gentle smile. "Just fine, thank you." Otani smiled genuinely. She looked over to the person next to her and threw a smirk to the feral looking boy, "I take it your Hana's sister?" she assumed. He sure did look like the older female Inuzuka who helped run the animal hospital in the village.

He flashed Otani a fanged smile, "You got that right babe. The name's Kiba Inuzuka and this is my partner and best friend Akamaru" he introduced pointing a thumb up at the adorable white puppy who barked in return.

"Awwe he's so cute!" she cooed with a smile. Akamaru barked once more before hoping out of Kiba's hood and ran up to Otani, despite Kiba's protests to come back. Akamaru jumped on to Otani's chest and began showering her face with puppy kisses.

"Okay, okay, gross, gross, gross knock it off!" she laughed as she pulled the puppy off of her and held him out at an arm's length away from her. She starred the little puppy down in a 'stern' way but he simply barked twice and continued wagging his tail happily.

She huffed in amusement and handed the puppy back to his owner, "Your dog had issues dude" she claimed as she wiped at her face clean of all traces of slobber. "Sorry about that, he usually doesn't do stuff like that. I don't know why he did?" Kiba inquired at the end of his sentence as he casted his partner a questioning look.

Akamaru barked a few times before an understanding look flashed across Kiba's face, "Ooohh~ He smelled the Dango you were eating not too long ago" he explained. She nodded, that made sense. She turned around and seen a pouting Ino and a bored looking Shikamaru.

"Aww, what's wrong? Was that your first little lovers' spat?" she teased with a wicked smile. A light blush dusted both of their cheeks at the tease and their eyes had widened comically as well. "W-what are you talking about?!" Ino screeched in outrage.

"I would not hook up with him! I don't even like him like that! The only one for me is Sasuke-kun!" she argued pointing at a raven headed boy back in the front row. "Hm, Sasuke huh?" Otani muttered. This boy was going to need a chastity belt sometime in the near future if he didn't have any intentions of getting raped by his fan-girls.

"I'm afraid I'm going to have to agree with Ino on this." Shikamaru spoke up, drawing Otani's attention to the young genius, "There's no way I would get with her, she's so not my type" he muttered.

"Exactly!" Ino agreed but then paused as his words echoed through her head. "Hey wait a minute!" she cried outraged, "**I'm** not **your** type?! More like, **you're** not **my** type! Why I would get together with you in the first place would be a mystery!"

Shikamaru groaned and rubbed his temples, she was shouting again. He was bound to go deaf in one ear if she kept this up. "A mystery that hopefully will never need to be solved." he growled," Your too loud for my liking and then there'll always be the concern if you'd even be loyal.

All you ever talk about is Sasuke. _Sasuke, Sasuke, Sasuke, Sasuke_.-" "You tell 'em Shikamaru!" a blonde boy with whiskers on his face yelled loudly, raising a fist in support. Sakura quickly punched him over the head with a glare, "Shut up Naruto! Your just jealous of Sasuke-kun!" she yelled.

"I am not! What's there to be jealous of?!" Naruto demanded scrutinizing the Uchiha boy one seat away from him as he rubbed at the sore spot on his head. Sasuke turned and glared at the blonde harshly before turning back around, attempting to tune everyone out.

Shikamaru rolled his eyes at the onyx haired boy, and turned back to the fuming female blonde next to him, " All I'm saying is that I'm impressed that you even know more words than just his name. I'm telling you guys right now that he's going to need a chastity belt sooner or later if he plans on saving himself for a girl he actually likes." Shikamaru advised.

Otani busted out laughing along with the other boys in the class room. The only boy she didn't think was laughing was Sasuke, he had stiffened up like a board as the warning echoed through his head.

Otani didn't blame the poor boy, if someone had told her that then she would have reacted the same way. "That's what I was thinking!" Otani yelled through her laughs and high-fived the smirking Nara, ignoring the beat red faces of the female Yamanaka and all the other fan-girls around them.

"Otani! If your done messing around, I'm sure they'd like to know who they are being paired up with on their teams" Iruka called with a small smile and the faint remainings of a blush dusting across his cheeks as he waved the manilla envelope to and fro.

"Alright, alright. I'm done" she chuckled in surrender as she hopped off the desk and returned to the front of the class, where she hopped on Iruka's instead. When the class had steadily settled down, Iruka began.

"Alright, let's try this again" Iruka started, clearing his throat. " The first team, is Team 10. Ino Yamanaka, Chouji Akamichi and Shikamaru Nara - you three will be under the instruction of Asuma Sarutobi." he ignored the cries of outrage from Ino and Shikamaru's slightly quieter ones.

"The next team, is Team 8. Hinata Hyuga, Shino Aburame and Kiba Inuzuka - you three will be under the instruction of Kurenai Yuhi." There had been no protests from any of them.

" The next team is, Team 7. Naruto Uzamaki, Sakura Haruno and Sasuke Uchiha - you three will be under the instruction of Kakashi Hatake and...Otani Namina?" Iruka finished casting Otani a confused look, hoping for some form of elaboration as he tried to ignore the cries of Naruto and Sakura.

But she couldn't offer any, she was frozen in shock and anger. Oh no, no, no, no, no. He didn't! That sneaky bastard, she was going to kill that old man!

But not yet.

No, she wouldn't face him now...he's probably sitting up in his office right now with a couple ANBU teams and most likely some people from her clan acting as his protection. He was expecting her to storm the building and make an assassination attempt on his life. But she wouldn't, not until his guard was down - that was when she would strike. It was more fun to see the surprise on a person's face.

"Otani?" Iruka probed worryingly. This was worrying him, she had been quiet for too long and he seen that murderous look flash across her eyes for a few seconds. Otani shook her head a little before a calm expression fell across her features as she shrugged with a small smile, "Surprise?"

Hello! Applebearhugs here! First, thank you for taking the time to read my story :) and second, go ahead and leave a review if you'd like to. And umm yeah, that's about it! Have a good day \(^.^)/


	3. Team 7 introductions

"Okay, so obviously you all heard Iruka. We're going to be a team now, so I suppose we should get to know each other at least a little bit." Otani suggsted as she stood in front of the three sitting genin.

After Iruka had said his final good byes to his formal students, Otani had taken her new team up to the academy roof while the others waited for their teachers to show up.

All three students were seated on the steps of the roof. Sakura sat on the second step, left of Sasuke - who was on the top step and Naruto sat on the second step too but he was on the right side of Sasuke.

Sakura's hand shot up as if she were still in class. "Yes, Sakura?" Otani drawled. "Otani-sensei, what do you mean by get to know each other?" Sakura questioned. Otani fought back a smart remark, for pete's sake what kind of question was that? How else do you get to know someone? You tell people about yourself!

"Well, I'll go first."Otani offered. "I am Otani Namina. Two of my hobbies would be reading and I do a bit of horseback riding here and there. I like relaxing under the stars, eating, sleeping, being a kunoichi for the Leaf and I like to fight and carry out assassinations too...What's wrong with you guys?" she asked as she noticed the odd looks she was receiving.

"Y-you l-like a-assasinating people?" Sakura asked shakily. Otani nodded easily,"Yeah, it gives me a good challenge. Especially if they are S-ranked...now that I think of it maybe I should start requesting for more assassination missions, it's been a while" Otani pondered.

She snapped out of her ponderings and seen Naruto and Sakura were about ready to pee on their selves, but Sasuke looked flat out interested. Did they think that she would hurt them?

Otani gave them an incredulous look ,"You guys know that I wouldn't try to assassinate you right? I only assassinate the people that deserve it." she supplied hoping to ease their nerves. It did, they both sighed in relief and returned to their attentive states as if the last few moments never happened.

She smiled and shook her head before continuing with her introduction, "I don't really favor liars, spiders, centipedes, people eating my food or interrupting my sleep. Never interrupt a Namina's sleep - it won't end up well for you" she warned with a deadly glare.

Naruto and Sakura gulped nervously with a nod of their heads in understanding while Sasuke remained neutral. "My dream I guess would be to succeed in what I'm being trained for." she finished a bit mysteriously.

"Which is what Ani-sensei? Come on, don't leave us in the dark dattebayo!" Naruto complained loudly. Sakura growled and managed to whack the little blonde boy over the head, "Knock it off Naruto! If she doesn't want to tell us then she doesn't have to!" the pinkette yelled and turned back to face her female teacher. But Sakura could not hide the look of clear desire of wanting to know in her green eyes, even the Uchiha had a bit of curiosity in his dark orbs.

A small smile graced her lips as she recalled Naruto's complaint. Did he just call her Ani-sensei? That was a new one. "Wait," she said with a light laugh, "Did you just call me Ani-sensei?" she asked the blonde boy amusingly. A light blush flittered across his whiskered cheeks.

"W-well yeah. It's my new nickname for you, I suppose if it bugs you I can stop-" he began but stopped himself when he seen the rise of her hand. "No, no. It's fine." Otani assured with a smile. "I just haven't heard that one before, that's all." she explained.

She looked at each of them and released a small sigh, she supposed it wouldn't hurt to tell her dream to them."My clan has always told me that one day I would be the greatest Namina clan leader there has ever been." she began.

"They said that my name would be spread like wildfire all over the world so that there won't be a person left that won't know who I am. My dream is to meet the expectations from my clan, it is what they're training me for - and I don't plan on disappointing on them." Otani smirked.

"Well I'd say you're off to a good start on making you dream come true." a new masculine voice chimed in. Otani and the others turned and seen a fit and relatively tall shinobi, with spiky silver hair that stood and slanted off to the side.

He had a general bored look to him, a mask that covered a majority of his face. His head band was slanted to cover his left eye, leaving his dark colored right eye the only visible thing on his face.

He wore an elite Konoha-nin green flack jacket, dark blue pants and a matching long-sleeve shirt with the addition of wearing shorter fingerless gloves with metal plates on the backhand and blue ninja sandals.

Kakashi Hatake. The Copy Cat Ninja.

"I'm assuming you are talking about the situation with the rogue shinobi and bandits?" Otani guessed. Kakashi nodded, "Mhm. There hasn't been a single rogue shinobi or bandit spotted within the Fire Country borders for a while now. And it's all because they are afraid of Otani Namina " he reported with a light chuckle in his voice.

Otani smirked in satisfaction, "A smart decision on their part." she replied coolly as he moved closer to the group of four. The two jounin exchanged a fist bump in greeting, "Good to see you again, Kakashi." she smiled.

Kakashi returned it with his own closed eye smile, "Good to see you as well Otani. Good to see our Hokage still up and breathing too." he added quietly so the others wouldn't hear. She huffed and rolled her eyes, "Yeah, he's going to get taken care of sooner or later. I want to get him when he's least expecting it" she returned back just as quietly.

"Just make sure you have a place to hide out in when you go through with this." he advised. The corners of her lips twitched upwards, "Don't you worry about me, you know even if I didn't have a place to hide out in then I would improvise and find one." she smirked.

Kakashi pondered this and nodded. She was right. Even if Otani didn't have a place to hide in, then she would make one with her impressive improvising skills. "So," he said returning to a normal volume and turning to the three students watching them curiously and Kakashi a bit cautiously.

"I take it that this is our team?" he asked. Otani nodded, "That's right. From left to right is Sakura Haruno, Sasuke Uchiha and Naruto Uzumaki. Guys, this is Kakashi Hatake - your main sensei." she introduced.

A chorus of hello's and a slight nod was given to the older man. "Now that you're here Kakashi, why don't you introduce yourself to them and then they can take turns introducing themselves." Otani suggested and backed up to lean against the fence on the roof.

"Introduce my self huh?" he muttered looking up at the clear blue sky and scratching his head. He looked back at the trio and crossed his arms over his chest as he began his introduction.

"Well, I'm Kakashi Hatake. I don't feel like telling you what things I like or don't like. I never really thought about my dreams for the future and as for my hobbies, well I have a lot of them. Okay, you on the right can go next." he instructed casually.

A tick mark had appeared on Otani's forehead as she stared at the silver haired man in irritation. What kind of introduction was that?! Otani sighed and rubbed her temples, attempting to calm down.

"Well that was useless, all he told us was his name." Sakura muttered bitterly to Naruto, gaining his nod of agreement. "Go on Naruto, introduce yourself." Otani ground out a bit irritatedly.

"Okay,okay. I'm going, I'm going! Believe it!" he exclaimed trying to remain out of trouble with his younger sensei. He turned and began fiddling with his head band with a goofy smile.

"I am Naruto Uzumaki. I like instant ramen in a cup and I really like the ramen Iruka-sensei got me at the Ichiraku noodle shop. But I hate the three minutes you have to wait after you pour the water in the ramen cup. My hobby is eating different kinds of ramen and comparing them. And my future dream is to become the greatest Hokage there's ever been!" he finished happily.

Otani smiled, looks like they had some things in common and she wasn't just talking about their dreams of becoming the greatest future leaders either. She didn't let many people outside of her clan know this, but she really didn't like the waiting time for the ramen either- it had became a pet peeve of hers embarassingly enough.

"I'm loving your dream Naruto!...Even if you did copy mine in a way." she whisper yelled playfully with a chuckle. Naruto looked surprised for a second before chuckling along with her.

"Alright, you on the left can go next." Kakashi said pointing to Sakura. "Oh right," she said clearing her throat. "I'm Sakura Haruno. What I like is-" she cut herself off and giggled as she threw a look to the raven haired boy next to her.

"I mean who I like is-" she had cut herself off again and giggled as she threw another look to the raven haired boy. "My hobbies are-" que giggling. "My dreams are-" another fit of giggles.

"Okay, okay enough!" Otani declared loudly. This was getting disturbing and all her unfinished sentences weren't even directed at her. "What do you hate?" Kakashi asked slowly, no doubt feeling a bit disturbed as well.

"Naruto!" she snapped, making him anime cry in return. "Moving on!" Otani said feeling a bit bad for Naruto, she didn't need to call him out like that. She couldn't have "subtly" hinted at him like she did with the rest of her introduction?

"My name is Sasuke _Uchiha_." Sasuke drawled out as if trying to make a point. Do you want a cookie for being able to tell us your name? Otani shook her head clear of the smart remark and paid attention to the Uchiha...or should she say _Uchiha. _She needed to stop.

"I don't like many things and I dislike a lot of things. As for hobbies, I have none-." "Stop." Otani interrupted with a frown. This was just like Kakashi's introduction and she would not have it.

If she hadn't of worked with Kakashi before than she would have objected to this arrangement right away instead of waiting like she has planned. She would not teach a kid she knew nothing about.

"I want at least one thing out of you Sasuke; one like, one dislike, one hobby and your dream. We won't teach a student we know nothing about. If you have a problem with that then I suppose you can go to the Hokage about it.

If anything, all he will do is swap you to a different team but I can promise you that they'll make you do the same thing. So just get it out right now instead of going through the trouble later." she advised wisely.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes at her and cast a glance to his main sensei, only to see him nod in agreement. He glared at the ground for a few minutes and after the few minutes were up he sighed heavily, " I like tomatoes." he began sourly.

"I don't like sweets-" he ignored Naruto's cries of protest, " My hobby is training. And my dream - my goal is to kill a certain man who betrayed me. And then restore my clan" he finished.

Otani frowned," Sooo~ you don't want that chastity belt?" she asked. If he was trying to restore his clan then wouldn't he want all these fan-girls throwing themselves at him? She didn't think that who ever he ended up with would appreciate being used as a baby making machine.

His eyes widened and a small shiver raked through his body as the thought echoed through his mind. "Otani!" Kakashi scolded but she could see a hint of hidden amusement in his visible eye.

"You can't say things like that around them, they are too young to know about those things." he said. Otani shook her head in disagreement," Not true, Shikamaru Nara knows about those things. He even said it out loud to the whole class earlier today." she argued.

Kakashi gave her a look, "Otani. Think about what you just said, Shikamaru** Nara - **Knew about a chastity belt. He's a Nara Otani, the smartest one in the village nonetheless. Of course he would know about it, but that doesn't mean everyone else does."

Before Otani could reply Naruto's hand shot up," Hey Ani and Kakashi sensei. What's a chastity belt and what did Shikamaru mean when he said Sasuke would need it if he wanted to save himself for a girl he liked? Is he gonna give it to her or something?" he questioned with a look of pure innocence of his face.

"Ooohh~ he'll give it to her alright" Otani muttered throwing Sasuke a perverted smile. The Uchiha boy blushed and threw a small glare at her before looking away, trying to beat down the color in his cheeks.

"Never mind what it is Naruto. You can know when your older." Kakashi assured. Naruto frowned, "Aww but I want to know **now**!" he whined disappointedly. "Awwe come on Kakashi, he wants to know~ Why can't you just tell him? Or I'll tell him if you don't want to" Otani suggested playfully.

"When. He's. Older." Kakashi growled at her, making her laugh. Otani turned and gave Naruto a 'disappointed' look, "Sorry Naruto, but it looks like you're going to have to wait." she pouted.

"Aww! Man this sucks." he pouted but noticed his pink haired teammate had been giggling away at the whole situation, "Hey Sakura-chan, can you tell me what it is?" he asked.

Sakura jumped at the sudden question and turned to the honestly confused boy. She opened her mouth to reply but was cut off by Kakashi clearing his throat and giving her a stern look.

She closed her mouth and shrugged helplessly at Naruto, "Sorry Naruto, sensei's orders. You're just going to have to wait until you're older to find out." Naruto groaned loudly and pulled at his hair frustratingly.

"This isn't fair." he pouted in defeat. Kakashi ignored his complaint and cleared his throat again, "Anyways... it seems like you all are unique and you all have your ideas, this is good. We'll have our first mission tomorrow." he said, throwing a look to Otani for confirmation.

She nodded, she didn't have a problem with it. "What kind of mission are we going to have?" Naruto asked eagerly. "It's a mission the five of us will have. It'll be a survival exercise." he told.

"A survival exercise?" Naruto echoed. "I thought we were supposed to have a real mission, not more practice!" Sakura pointed out unhappily. Otani stealthily took out three kunai from her weapons' pouch strapped to her side, hiding under her coat.

"We already did this stuff at the academy, that's how we got here." she added. "This is not like any of your previous training." Kakashi said without missing a beat. "So what kind of practice is it?" Naruto asked.

In a flash Otani had hurled the tree kunai at the genin with deadly accuracy. With the way she had thrown them, they were sent to lodge themselves in their hearts. Kakashi had seen this and took out his own, throwing them at hers and knocking them off course.

All six were sent falling to the ground harmlessly, landing past the three students who had frozen on spot. "Did you really think that all 27 people who passed the academy final would get the chance to move on?" Otani wondered, snapping them out of their frozen states.

"Only 9 out of the 27 people who passed will truly be accepted as genin. The other 18 get booted out and sent back to the academy." Kakashi supplied casually, as if she hadn't just thrown kunai at 3 defenseless "genin".

"Only those who truly desire to be a shinobi of the Leaf will pass this test." Otani continued - reaching out her hand and jerking it back, pulling the invisible chakra strings she had attached to the kunai, back to her.

The kunai knives flew back into her grasp easily and she stored them away into their original place, dismissing their awed faces. " This is a make it or break it test. Either you pass or you fail." Kakashi said plainly. " Life or death if you want to seriously take this as a mission... and on this mission, there's a 66% 'death' rate. " Otani said honestly.

The three collectively deadpanned," Hey, we never said that you would like it." Kakashi shrugged holding up his hands in surrender. "Sooo~ be at the designated training grounds at...5 am good for you Kakashi?" Otani asked for appearance sake. She knew that he would never show up on time, he never did. But that was something they would have to learn with time.

"Sounds fine to me." he agreed, "Oh and don't eat breakfast or else you'll puke." Kakashi warned before poofing away in a cloud of smoke. Otani grimaced, she remember back when she had first started out as a genin that her cousin Aguri had foolishly eaten instead of listening to the sensei. Then, when he took a blow to the stomach, he had indeed puked up his breakfast. Not a pretty sight.

"Kakashi's right, you can go ahead and disobey his orders by eating breakfast if you'd like" she began to draw their attention to her, " But you'll just puke it back up if you take a hit to the stomach. Trust me, I've seen it myself during this test." she grimaced.

"Hey, Otani-sensei! Since you've taken this test before, can you tell us what to expect for tomorrow?" she asked. Otani quirked her eye brow and threw the pinkette a smirk, "Now where's the fun in that? All you need to know is to bring your ninja gear, don't be late and don't eat breakfast. That's all, later guys!" she called before disappearing in a swirl of black and white smoke.

Hey, Applebearhugs here! Thanks for the reads, I appreciate it! Have a good day (^.^)/


	4. Otani's training exercise

Otani groaned as she felt the constant nudges from her pet husky, Classified. Classified was auburn colored with green eyes, he was 3 years old and was the clan's main messenger.

"Go away Classified, I'm sleeping!" she complained groggily. It felt like she had only fell asleep 10 minutes ago, last nights training with her clan had been tough - they were uping the intensity. Her body was sore and she did not want to move yet.

"Come on Otani~" he sang cheerfully as he grabbed a portion of her pajama sleeve and dragged her off the bed. She landed on her carpeted floor with a muffled thud. She groaned and decided to lay there, contemplating whether to force herself up or to just let Classified drag her around.

"Come on Otani, you have a team to teach! You're already an hour late! Not to mention my food bowl's empty!" he whined as he dragged her closer to her door. "Classified, your food bowl is always empty" she said dully as she laid on the carpeted floor unmovingly.

That dog was a bottomless pit. But no matter how much he ate, he remained in shape. She wished she could do that, lucky bastard. "Well, it can be less empty than it is now if you get up and fill it." he suggested and gave another harsh tug.

She sighed and lightly smacked his nose, making him release his hold on her. "Alright, alright. I'm up" she grumbled staggering to her feet."Yay! Will you fill my bowl before you get ready?" he asked hopefully as he trotted after her. She supposed she could do that, she was already late - what was a few more minutes?

She didn't have to shower again, she did that before she went to bed. All she needed to do was freshen up a bit, throw on some clothes, grab her gear and go. Wouldn't take her more than 20 minutes.

"Go tell whoever else is up to get Atlas prepped, I'll ride him out to the training grounds today - maybe we'll do a little training too." she ordered, walking into the kitchen and grabbing Classified's empty food bowl.

"Aye aye captain!" he barked and vanished in a blink of an eye. Otani rolled her eyes good naturedly. Atlas had been her horse for years now. She was there for his birth as a little girl and the two grew up close together. Atlas was taller than the average horse, he towered over most horses now that she thought about it.

He was pure black, had brown eyes and had a long black wavy mane and tail to match. The noble animal was kind, patient , very intelligent, a bit stubborn, and powerful.

She felt bad for not spending time with him lately, so that's why she had told Classified to get somebody to get him prepped.

Atlas was a special horse. He could fight along side of Otani if he wanted too, a horse who could fight along side a shinobi was a rare sight. A rare sight indeed. Not many people in the village even knew about Atlas, they just assumed he was a normal horse.

How wrong they were.

Atlas specialized in earth and lightning type jutsu. He was much like Otani, a force to be reckoned with - especially when he shifted into his human form. When he shifted into his human form he had taken the form of a handsome young man with thick spiky hair with one golden streak running through the side of it.

Atlas' human form was tall, lean and fit. His skin was flawlessly tan and his eyes were golden as well. He skillfully wielded a doubled bladed sword and was not afraid to use it by any means necessary.

Otani still didn't know to this day who had taught Atlas the jutsu that allowed him to do so, but she was glad they did - he had saved her life on more than one occasion back in her earlier days as a kunoichi.

She broke away from her thoughts and filled Classified's food bowl, setting it back down in it's rightful place before going back into her room to get ready. After 15 minutes she had reappeared into the kitchen dressed and ready.

"Atlas is prepped and ready to go." Classified's voice reported from the floor. Otani looked and deadpanned at the sight, Classifieds' food bowl was empty again and he was laying belly up - looking satisfied with his fill.

But Otani wasn't fooled. He'd be up and looking for another source of food in an hour or so. Thankfully, she wouldn't be the one filling his stomach. "Thank you Classified, have a good day!" she called heading towards the kitchen door that lead to outside. "You too Otani!" he called as she walked out of the house and shut the door behind her.

Otani walked out and was greeted with the sight of the noble black horse waiting for her patiently, groomed and saddled. "Heeyy Atlas!~" she sang as she approached him.

He nickered happily and trotted up to her. She smiled fondly as he playfully nudged her in greeting, "I missed you too boy." she whispered, wrapping her arms around his neck lovingly. He returned the hug the best a horse could and backed away, pawing the ground anxiously. He was ready to go riding now, not later.

"Alright, alright don't rush me." she laughed as she hauled herself up and got comfortable in the saddle. "Alright, let's go boy" she urged squeezing her heels into his sides. Atlas surged forward on the dirt paths of the Namina compound and cantered towards the training grounds where there were three 'patiently' waiting academy graduates.

*T.S.*

It was getting light outside by the time Otani and Atlas made their way towards three figures waiting in the distance - Sasuke and Sakura were standing back to back and Naruto was sitting on the ground. Otani whistled loudly, catching their attention.

"Is that Otani-sensei?" Sakura asked narrowing her eyes curiously. "I think it is! Man look at that horse she's riding, he's huge!" Naruto exclaimed rising to his feet. "Morning guys! Sorry I'm late!" Otani called cheerfully as they circled the trio, steadily slowing down to a stop.

"Otani-sensei is he your horse?" Sakura asked in awe as the Namina teen dismounted from the noble's back. Otani smiled and nodded, "That's right, this is Atlas. Atlas, this is - Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke. They're the students I'm helping Kakashi teach." she introduced.

Atlas nodded his head up and down in understanding, much to the amusement of Naruto and Sakura. "Can you show them your way of saying "hello" Atlas?" she asked with a knowing smile.

He nodded his regal head once more before getting down on one knee and stretching his other leg forward as he laid the tip of his nose on the ground."Not bad for his size." Sasuke muttered to himself, impressed that a beast his size could manage a feat like that.

Naruto and Sakura gasped in awe and began laughing excitingly as Atlas pulled himself back up. "Woah, that was so cool Ani-sensei! Did you teach him how to do that?" Naruto asked as he looked at the horse in admiration.

"Mhm, it didn't take long for him to catch on to what I was trying to teach him when I first introduced him to the trick. All it took was a few weeks, some carrots and he nailed it perfectly." Otani smiled as she scratched under his chin.

"Can we pet him sensei?" Sakura asked eagerly yet a bit cautiously, she had heard of how horses could spook if you made abrupt movements or if a loud sound nearby went off. She had no intention of being trampled by a spooked horse of Atlas' size.

Otani nodded and motioned them over invitingly, "Go ahead, he won't mind. But let him sniff you first." she said petting his neck herself. Sakura and Naruto approached the towering animal a bit cautiously and Naruto let Sakura sniff her offered hand first.

After a few moments he nudged his nose into her hand, wanting to be pet. Sakura giggled and began stroking his nose before moving to the other side of his neck. Naruto offered his hand next and smiled in victory when he received the same acceptance Sakura had gotten.

Otani moved away and let Naruto take her place of petting one side of his neck. She looked and noticed Sasuke standing off to the side, watching them but looked away when he met Otani's light brown honey eyes.

"Come on Sasuke. Atlas is a big horse, his neck isn't the only place you can pet." Otani said attempting to get him to come join them. However, Sasuke simply shook his head,"Aren't we supposed to be doing this training exercise you and Kakashi-sensei told us about? We're late getting started as it is." he pointed out.

What a kill joy.

Otani frowned and quirked an eye brow, " Kakashi said this was a mission for the five of us, not four. We can't start until he gets here anyways, so come over here and be social for once." she ordered.

He hadn't moved a muscle. Otani huffed in frustration and opened her mouth to say something but stopped when she seen Atlas begin moving away from her and her other two students. Atlas slowly walked towards a wary looking Sasuke and stopped right in front of him, staring him down.

Sasuke shifted from foot to foot, unable to decipher what was wrong with this monster of a horse in front of him. "What is Atlas doing Otani-sensei?" Sakura whispered confused.

Otani took a moment to try and figure it out herself but suddenly smirked when she figure it out. "He wants to be pet. He wants _Sasuke_ to pet him. He thinks Sasuke is too good to pet him and Atlas doesn't appreciate thoughts like that." she answered simply.

"So, is Atlas just gonna stare that teme down until he pets him?" Naruto asked curiously. "Mhm. Atlas is very stubborn, he won't give up on something until he gets what he wants." Otani replied fondly. The stare down had officially started and Atlas wouldn't give in, he would make this brat pet him if it was the last thing he did.

A battle of wills.

Black vs Brown.

Man vs Beast.

...

...

...

Atlas suddenly squealed loudly and lunged forward, causing Sasuke's eyes to widen in alarm and his hands go up in front of his face in defense. That was the opening Atlas was looking for, with out wasting a moment - he thrust his nose into the pale palm of Sasuke's hand.

Sasuke's eyes widened in surprise for a few moments before switching over to something Otani couldn't decipher. His black orbs flickered down to the connection of his hand and the soft nose of the horse in front of him.

He looked up and held onto Atlas' gaze once more before slowly moving his hand up and down the length of the noble's nose. Atlas' eyes softened as he nickered quietly and moved closer to the boy, encouraging him to continue on.

Sasuke's pets got firmer as he ran his hand over his thick neck and over his powerful shoulders. "He's strong." Sasuke noted quietly. "Well of course he is." Otani answering coming up from beside the Uchiha. "Momma, didn't raise no wimp." she smiled patting his hindquarters lovingly.

" Not to be rude Otani-sensei. But why did you bring Atlas with you? I don't really think a training ground is really appropriate for a horse. He could get hurt." Sakura fretted.

Otani smirked,"Never underestimate your opponent Sakura, it's a grave mistake to make on your part. Not only will you put your life in danger but the lives of your comrades as well." Otani informed, mounting Atlas.

"Hm? What are you doing Ani-sensei? Where are you going?" Naruto questioned a bit angry at the thought of being left instead of being trained. She raised a hand and motioned for him to calm down, "Calm down Naruto. **I'm** not going anywhere. But **we** are." she smiled mischievously.

"What are you talking about Otani-sensei?" Sakura asked cluelessly. Otani merely smirked before turning Atlas around and had him walk a few yards away from the trio before turning him back around.

"What I told Sasuke was the truth." she began, "The training exercise is for the five of us, not four of us. Meaning, not only can I not give you this test because not all of us are here but because that is for the main sensei to do, not the secondary sensei.

So instead of us wasting time, I thought of putting you guys through a similar version of a Namina training activity. But a bit easier, less intense. " Otani broke down. "A Namina training course?" Sakura echoed curiously.

Otani nodded in confirmation, "You heard me right Sakura. Today, until Kakashi gets here - we will work on speed and endurance." she paused and pulled out a stop watch from her coat pocket, " This stop watch will go off in two hours.

This training activity is strictly for the side streets of Konoha only, I don't want any accidents happening during the activity if you guys brought this onto the main roads.

No jumping roof top to roof top or running on walls, people are still sleeping and I don't want them woken up because of us. You guys will also stick to the side streets until we break through the village and we get to the training ground in the forest near the front of the village, then you can use the trees to your advantage.

You have two hours to run away from us and stay out of our grasp. And if you don't, not only will you get trampled by Atlas but-" she stopped and looked down at Atlas with a confident smile.

The trio who had been overwhelmed by the news, peeled their incredulous looks away from Otani and to the horse a bit warily. He just stood there for a moment but then they heard it, a faint sound of zapping - and it came from Atlas' hooves.

They looked down and seen small, faint sparks of electricity bouncing off the noble's hooves. However, with each passing second - the sparks grew more noticeable and began spreading up his legs and over his entire body until he and Otani were covered head to toe in a mass of lightning.

Sasuke, Naruto and Sakura gasped - backing up in fright, "Y-you've got to be kidding me !" Naruto cried in horror. "Not only will you be trampled." Otani repeated but her voice was mutated, it was two voices in one. Her own voice and then another one that belonged to a male.

It was the voice of Atlas, not that they would know either way, but when ever they formed this attack together - his human voice could be heard if he wanted it to be, for some odd reason.

"You will be electrocuted and possibly killed as well." the two voices chorused and Otani flashed them a sadistic smile. Otani held up the stop watch for them to see and then began the countdown on the timer.

"Your two hours of speed and endurance training, starts now." she smirked.

*T.S.*

"Move it Naruto!" Sakura cried fearfully as she narrowly dodged from being flung up into the air by an electrified horse and his owner. "Tell that to Sasuke! He's blocking the whole street, dattebayo!" Naruto cried jumping over a pile of trash cans, that were then quickly blasted away by the electrified legs of Atlas.

Atlas raced after the three kids in the narrow side street, actually enjoying this little exercise - it felt good to stretch out his legs like this. They had been at this for the better part of an hour now and Sasuke had been fairing the best so far.

Sasuke had most likely been fairing best so far because of all the practice he got from trying to escape his fan girls. But this no roof top running or wall climbing was getting to him and Otani could see it. She had to toss a few kunai at him as a reminder whenever she caught him looking up at the barren walls and rooftops.

And behind Sasuke was Naruto, probably because of all the practice he got from running away from the shinobi who would chase him around the village for pulling pranks. But Naruto needed quite the few reminders as well, roof top escapes was his specialty when he couldn't shake a person off his trail but he valued his life more than making an easier get away.

Sakura had been struggling more than the other two. She needed to be saved a few times - seeing as she fell further behind because of her lack of endurance or because the other two boys in front of her had slowed down.

The trio had finally broke free of the small alleyway they had turned into to try and slow down Atlas but it was unsuccessful, if anything it just harmed them in the long run.

The village gates could be seen in the distance, they only needed to last a few more minutes before they could retreat into the safety of the trees and catch a break. This realization must have hit them because the trio then spurred forwards with a new found energy.

"Awwe~ How cute, they think they can catch a break. Well, I suggest they hurry and get there before we do." Otani hinted loudly from behind the trio, causing them to put on another desperate burst of speed in return.

Otani smirked and pulled on Atlas' reigns a bit, the more momentum Atlas built up - the harder it would be for him to stop or make a quick turn. It applied to the three genin as well, they wouldn't be able to hold their footing if any one of them decided to make a quick turn.

_' What are you doing Otani?'_ Atlas' questioning voice echoed through her mind. "We'll need to be prepared for quick maneuvers once they get past the village gates. No doubt they'll want to take to the trees but I won't let them - not yet. But if they do manage to get into the trees, your going to need time to adjust. " Otani explained.

A look of understanding flashed through his brown eyes before he focused back at the task at hand. After a few more minutes of running, they had broken past the village gates.

The three began to put some distance in between each other so they could try and split up, but they were brought right back together when Otani shot streams of lightning at them.

She needed them to stay together for a little while longer, she rather have them split apart in the training grounds instead of splitting apart so close to the village. If they split apart now, then there was a chance Otani could accidentally set a tree on fire with her lightning.

And she had no intentions of starting a forest fire so close to the village.

The chase continued on for a few more minutes and Otani noticed how their breaths were short and frantic. They wouldn't last much longer, they needed to get up into a tree and soon.

She figured she'd allow that once they got into the outer training grounds not too far up ahead, she could hear the sounds of someone training there now. "You hear that right Atlas?" she asked leaning over and patting his neck.

_' If your talking about the people occupying the training grounds we're heading to now then, yes. I can also hear your students' frantic breathing. They need a rest.'_ Atlas advised.

"Yeah, I know. When we get in the training grounds, I want you to slow down and give them a chance to get into a tree. But don't let up on this attack, keep the lightning covering you and pace the ground by the tree they're in.

After a few minutes we'll begin the chase back to the starting point of this training exercise and stop it there. Maybe Kakashi will be there by the time we get back, but if he isn't then I don't really think they'd mind." she shrugged.

Atlas chuckled the best a horse could, '_ You do realize how cruel you're being right now, right? There's a reason this is a Namina training activity - even if you did bring the intensity down a bit. Even our own people have difficulty with this activity, and yet here you are - pushing this on a bunch of newbies.'_

"Well I had to give them something to do. I couldn't just let them sit there for another hour or two while Kakashi is Kami knows where. They needed a productive way to pass the time and this is what I came up with." Otani replied easily.

_' And because having them run laps around the village on a time limit, isn't an easier way to build their endurance and speed?'_ Otani snorted, "No! ... Well, yes" she admitted but she shook her head stubbornly.

"But they are being trained by a Namina, and I will not train them in the most basic of ways. They are going to actually be challenged during their training, unlike most students." she sniffed.

_'Alright, alright. Whatever you say Otani.'_ Atlas said giving up on the point he was trying to get across,_ ' ...just remember that when they're laid up in the hospital because of injuries or pure exhaustion caused by your training._' he said attempting to guilt trip the girl riding on his back.

"Atlas" Otani warned, seeing what he was trying to do. _'Okay, okay. I'm done'_ he gave in easily, he had no intentions of starting a fight with her - he just wanted to throw in his two cents so he could safely say that he did warn her when the trio did end up in the hospital.

*T.S*

Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke all burst through the cover of the trees and into the outer training grounds with Otani and Atlas on their heels. Without a hesitation they launched themselves into the nearest tree and settled on different branches, one above each other.

Well they certainly didn't waste any time doing that now did they?

The trio was red in the face, sweating heavily, shaking from exhaustion and breathing harshly as they tried to catch their breath- which was a bit easier now that the chase had finally come to a stop.

"Not bad, I don't think I've ever seen anyone scramble up a tree that fast in my entire life." Otani teased as Atlas begun pacing the ground in front of the tree. The only response she got was the sounds of their harsh breathing.

"Otani?" a familiar voice called. Otani turned and seen Tenten walking towards her, looking a bit confused at the situation the three younger genin were in. Tenten's teammate, Neji was standing a few yards away from them - watching with a strange expression.

From the looks of it they had been doing target practice. Kuani, shuriken all sorts of different knives were scattered around them, lodged in the targets or lodged in the ground next to the targets - but mainly in the targets.

"Hey Tenten!" Otani called cheerfully as she pulled Atlas to a stop so she could get off him safely. After she was off, he had begun his pacing again as he stared up at the three genin in anticipation - waiting for one of them to slip and fall.

All three seemed to recognize this look and scooted closer to the trunk of the tree to grab a hold of it for an extra boost of reassurance. Otani ignored them and met Tenten halfway, hugging her fellow kunoichi tightly.

"Hey Otani." Tenten greeted back and pulled away from the Namina, casting a look to Otani's team members trapped in the tree. "Soo~ What are you doing exactly?" Tenten asked as a familiar Hyuga approached the two females.

"Training exercise, Namina style. Oh and hey Neji." Otani replied vaguely and smiled to the Hyuga prodigy. "Otani" he acknowledged with a nod much to the surprise of his teammate.

"Wait, you know her Neji?" Tenten asked surprised. The stoic boy nodded, "She comes by frequently to do business with the clan and on occasion we spar. She's one of the few people who can actually give me a challenge." he said dully.

Otani snickered as she gave the Hyuga boy a look, "That was mean Neji." she scolded but he paid no attention to it, he instead turned to the three people trapped in the tree by Atlas.

"Any particular reasoning behind this?" he inquired with a quirk of his eye brow. "Their sensei isn't here to give them to bell exercise yet, so I decided to give them my own little exercise and this is the result." she smirked motioning towards the tree.

"You Namina sure don't hold back do you?" Tenten questioned good naturedly as she rested her hands on her hips. "It's not our style to, so no" Otani answered proudly.

Tenten chuckled, "Those poor little things, I bet they weren't expecting anything like this." she said with a shake of her head. "Undoubtedly" Neji added. Otani opened her mouth to speak but an alarm ringing cut her off.

Otani dug out the stop watch out of her pocket and looked at the small device, the two hours were up. She smirked, "Hey guys, the exercise is over! You guys can come down now!" she called.

Atlas dropped the lightning covering his body and backed away from the tree, returning to his masters' side. The trio sighed in relief and made their way to the ground before collapsing on top of each other - unconscious.

Neji smirked to himself as he crossed his arms over his chest, Tenten and Otani giggled to each other - finding the sight hilarious and Atlas whinnied in amusement. After a few moments of laughing, Otani stopped when she realized that she'd need to get them back to their respective training ground soon.

Kakashi ususally showed up to things two to three hours late, it had been two hours according to the timer. She should get going now.

She sighed dramatically, "Man~ I don't wanna carry them back...hey Atlas, you want to help me out here?" Otani asked hopefully. Atlas looked at Otani and then to the pile of unconscious pile of students. He looked back at her, blinked, then turned and bolted away.

"Hey! You lazy excuse of a horse! Get back here!" Otani screamed enraged as she watched her horse run away from her. She groaned in frustration and pulled at her hair, "Ughhh~ This is going to be so much work." she complained.

She sighed and fixed her hair before smiling at her two friends, "You guys wanna-" Otani tried again but Tenten cut her off, "Sorry Otani, but Neji and I have our own training to get to. Later!" Tenten said and grabbed the Hyuga by the wrist - much to the chagrin of him - and jumped away into the trees together.

"You guys suck!" she yelled after their retreating forms. "Love you too Otani!" Tenten's faint voice called back. Otani sighed in defeat and made two clones, "Help me carry them back to the training grounds?" Otani asked tiredly.

They nodded and the trio of Otanis hauled their unconscious teammates onto their backs and began their journey back to the training grounds they had originally started at.

Hey, Applebearhugs here! Thanks for the reads, I appreciate it! Leave a review if you'd like and have a good day \(^.^)/


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